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Sunday 5 August 2012

Day 8: Collaborative Projects

We all have experiences with collaborative projects. Whether from the B.Ed program or from our teaching experience, we all know that collaborative projects either work wonderfully or don't work at all.  As Peter Skillen clearly points out, some students rely on others to do their work, or don't contribute equally. This of course leads to all sorts of issues within the group, such as poor grading or resentment from those that worked harder.  

Personally, I have never been a proponent of collaborative projects.  During my practicum experience, students working on group presentations or projects approached me to tell me that they had done all the work, while their partners did not complete their assigned tasks.  This made my students feel resentful towards their classmates and made me feel unfair in giving the whole group the same grade.  

However, I can also see the advantages that Skillen points out.  For instance, I can understand how teams of experts on a specific topic have a wider base knowledge than a single writer or individual member.  Collaboration offers a wider range of expertise and skills.  Different opinions and knowledge among the group members raise more questions and "encourage[] students to have an explicit understanding of the work of all the other students in the group". 

For that to happen, though, there must be good group dynamics. That can possibly mean grouping students based on ability and motivation.  But how feasible is that?  Most teachers usually group the "good" students with the less capable ones.  This can lead to the problems mentioned above.  With that in mind, and although I can see the advantages of co-constructions and collaborations, I am not sure that I see ways of making them more effective, as I believe that the issues that arise from them are inevitable when grouping individuals of different abilities and motivations.   


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